Hope Springs

Posted on Jul 18, 2014 @ 12:21pm by Captain Michael Turlogh Kane
Edited on on Jul 18, 2014 @ 2:04pm

Mission: All Our Yesterdays
Location: K-60-Alpha-Twelve

"HOPE SPRINGS"

(Continued from "Reality Slapped Her...")

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"... it must be, I think, in the vast and eternal laws of matter, and not in the daily cares and sins and troubles of men, that whatever is more than animal within us finds its solace and its hope."

- HG Wells, "The Island of Dr. Moreau"
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Captain's Log, Supplemental - With Lieutenants Byte and Arn back aboard the NILE, the jungle excursion that I have taken with Commander Crichton and Lieutenant BaShen has gone somewhat awry...

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Location: K-60-Alpha-Twelve
Stardate: [2.14]0619.0105
Scene: Bottom of the gorge


Michael Turlogh Kane scrabbled up the far side of the gorge to where Russ BaShen was waiting for him. As his fingers reached the lip, Russ leaned down and hauled him up. Together, they stood for a moment, breathing heavily.

Kane looked up. The sky was darkening rapidly as night fell on the moon. The night here was going to be pitch-black - when the moon rolled around the dark side of the gas giant it would be totally hidden from the distant orange sun. There would likely be no light whatsoever. Right now, though, the view was incredible. The distant sun was reflecting off the gas giant that dominated the sky, spreading a magnificent colour of flame across the horizon.

"We've got to get him back," Russ was saying.

Kane turned around. Shielding his eyes from the evening sunlight, he peered across the gap of the gorge. His hands were stinging from the many cuts and scrapes he had suffered on their frantic climb down into it, fleeing as they were from the gorilla-like lizardine that was pursuing them. Now, Jake Crichton was somewhere on the other side of that gorge, having been captured by the creature.

There was no sign of Jake, but the stems of the flower-trees were rustling and moving as the beast moved amongst them. It was stalking the edge of the gorge like a frustrated predator, occasionally coming right to the edge before backing away. Kane knew it could see them clearly through its black opaque eyes and probably saw them as its next meal.

"I don't see him," Kane muttered.

Russ was examining the tricorder. "He's around twelve metres through the flower-trees, directly in front of us. He's not moving, but his lifesigns are clear."

Kane shook his head. The gorge was not wide, but it was deep - at six metres down and littered with scree, it was guaranteed to break an ankle if care was not taken with stepping. "The creature seems to be interested in us for now," he said. "Let's keep it that way. Stay in sight. If it looks like it's going to turn back to Jake, make a lot of noise."

"Aye, sir. Have you got a plan?"

"I think so." Kane gestured down at the all the rocks and mud. "Look how it's reluctant to come down into the gorge. We scrambled through it fairly quickly, but how much do you think that creature weighs?"

Russ checked the tricorder again. "I think I know where you're going, Captain. Our scaly friend over there weighs in the region of a thousand pounds."

"And if it - "

"Ended up in the gorge? Trapped most likely, at least for a while. The mud and scree would combine to severely limit its footing."

Kane nodded. "Just like a mammoth."

"A what?"

Kane knelt down on his haunches. "An ancient creature on Earth. Bigger than an elephant. Prehistoric Humans used to hunt them by luring or chasing them over the edges of cliffs, where they fell to their deaths. We don't need to kill this beast, just trap it at the bottom of the gorge."

"It seems to be some sort of predator. Maybe it would get so caught up in the hunt that its hunger would overcome its sense of caution?"

Kane nodded. "Plenty of stones down there. A hail of missiles will either drive it off or convince it to come down and join us. Either way, we just need to be quick."

"Oh," said Russ ironically. "Go into gorge, stone monster, run like hell. Be quick or it'll catch us and eat us."

Kane looked up at him. "Exactly." He gestured down into the gorge. "After you, Mister BaShen."

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Location: USS DISCOVERY, high orbit
Scene: Deck 21 access tunnel


Kassandra Thytos led her band of stragglers through the veins of the ship, pulse rifle slung over her shoulder. There were some thirty men and women in her group now, mainly science and medical personnel liberated from their respective departments. They had arrived at their destination. Deck Twenty-One was almost entirely devoted to the emergency personnel transporters, as well as boasting the ship's diplomatic conference room. They were split into multiple pads around a large central control nexus that was accessed directly from the main turbolift. At a pinch, around forty people could be beamed away from the ship in one go, but they were all kept offline until needed.

As the group entered the control nexus they paused, but like most part of the ship, the place was deserted.

Cindy put her hands on her hips. "So we made it. Now what?"

Kassandra looked at her. "Now you're going to activate these transporters and figure out a way to mask the life signs of anyone we send over."

Cindy was rolling her eyes, but moved to her task. As she did so, the grille to the access tunnel on the far side of the room shuddered, then was pushed out of its clamps with a light steel-on-steel screech. A moment later and there were engineers spilling out of the tunnel in single file, a whole crowd of them.

Kassandra beckoned Kuenzi and Massimo over when they appeared. "Well done," she said. "Any casualties?'

"One or two," said Massimo grimly.

"Let's get started," said Kass. "Guard the access tunnel and the main turbolift. It's not likely that anyone will come looking for us, but you never know. Give them a chance to surrender, but if they don't take it..." She let her sentence trail off.

"Got it." Massimo jogged for the turbolift while Kuenzi knelt down at the entrance to the turbolift. Behind her, Kass saw the engineers and civilians all milling around. Cindy and Johnathan Maynell were exchanging pleasantries. "What do you think? she asked them.

Ensign Maynell, a fresh-faced top-of-his-class Academy graduate who had made Assistant Chief Engineer on his first tour, was bullish. "No problem as far as I can see," he was nodding. "Fire these transporters up and get beaming."

"How will you mask the life-signs? We're supposed to be beaming a mass of corpses back to the Century."

"It's a matter of deactivating or changing the transporter records," explained Cindy. "It's not hard to do, but the trick will be stopping the bridge from seeing it."

Kass nodded. "That's why I was asking you earlier about some sort of distraction. Any ideas?"

"We've been talking about that," said Maynell. "It's going to be difficult to accomplish anything from one workstation alone. Eventually, anything we do will be traced back here. However, it's not like we can go roaming the ship so we've got to work with what we've got. As assistant department heads, both Lieutenant Rochemonte and I can use our engineering command clearances to initiate a series of remote shut downs of life support on various parts of the ship. The effects will be temporary, and it will alert the bridge when they contact Engineering and find nobody there to answer them. We'll concentrate on keeping life support and gravity offline between the bridge and Engineering."

"Sounds like we don't have much time," said Kass. "Listen. Once you get aboard the Century, your absolute highest priority must be in doing a cold start of her warp engines. Then get the defensive systems online and start beaming people over."

"How are you going to organise that?" asked Cindy. "Once this plan is rumbled, you'll be in the middle of a firefight just to hold this room down."

"We're also going to need to liberate the Ops people," said Maynell. "most of them are interned in their quarters on the higher decks."

"We'll work something out," said Kass. "For now, get set up."

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Location: K-60-Alpha-Twelve
Scene: The gorge


When they were both ready, Kane nodded to Russ. They had split up, Kane heading left and Russ heading right. Moving quickly as he dared, Kane scrabbled down back into the gorge in a cloud of dusty shale. When he made the base, he looked to his right to see Russ had done the same.

There was an almighty bellow from the flower-trees above as the creature appeared at the lip of the gorge in response to their noise. From down here it looked even bigger, the evening sunlight dappling on its thick hide of scales. Its leg muscles bulged as it crouched down on its haunches, wanting badly to spring down on its prey but not daring to.

Kane heard Russ yelling. The pilot was waving his arms and directing all manner of awful obscenities towards the monster, and when it turned its tree-trunk neck to look at him, Kane seized his chance. He quickly picked up as many big rocks as he could hold, making sure to keep his footing as light as possible.

"Have some of this you big bollicks!" he roared, flinging his stones as hard as he could. The first one missed, the second bounced harmlessly off the creatures flank, but the third caught it on its cheek, startling it and making it shake its head and let out another bellow. Russ joined in, and soon both men were hurling fist-sized stones at the beast. It seemed confused at first, rearing up to its full height and letting out roar after roar. With the rocky ground, there was ample ammunition.

One of Russ's stones caught it in its softer underbelly, and the air rushed from its lungs like a great bellows. An instant later, one of Kane's rocks smashed into its face, scraping one of its black opaque eyes. It shrieked in pain and looked down at him, enraged now.

Kane stopped. Some primitive instinct made him drop his stones and back away. The monster had been hurt and was ready to throw caution to the winds. It was either going to fight or run away.

"What'll it be!" he shouted at the creature.

It stooped, and leaped. Its bulk blocked out the setting sun for a moment, then it landed with a heavy thud at the base of the gorge. It raised its maw to the gas giant in the sky and let out an horrific scream as black ichor oozed from its damaged eye.

Behind it, Russ was already running for his life. Kane didn't need to be told twice either - he turned on his heel and started fleeing. He picked his way as fast as he could through the scattered rubble and rocks as the monster looked left and right, choosing its next meal.

It chose Kane.

Its footsteps were like earthquakes and it churned up a hail of mud and stone as it charged down the gorge after him. Kane broke into a full-on, panicked run, yelling in fear as he realised it meant to kill him, to shred him limb from limb. He shot a glance over his shoulder - the beast's mouth was open but there didn't seem to be any teeth. Instead, what looked like the baleen plates of whales jutted down from its gums.

Kane ran, kept running. He covered one hundred metres in fifteen seconds, the fastest he ever moved in his life, but it wasn't enough. The monster was on him like a dog on a rat, leaning forward in long lopes that ate up ground the way a gorilla does when running.

But it was getting slower.

The mud was clogging its heels, and with every step the monster was sinking deeper as its enormous bulk weighed it down. Its quarry, on the other hand, skipped from stone to stone, using the ground to avoid the mud and keep a level pace.

With a last, desperate effort, it lunged forward.

"Fuuuuuuuuccccccccckkkkkk!" yelled Kane. The monster's claw missed demolishing his back, but the potential energy from the blow surged forward in his wake and knocked him off-balance. He tripped and fell into the mud, scraping his elbows on the jutting sharp stones, the impact almost knocking his rebreather away from his face. Sure he was about to die, he scrabbled desperately forward to escape the beast's killing zone.

Nothing. The monster was breathing heavily but wasn't moving. Kane looked behind him. The plan had worked. The beast had run out of energy and was trapped in the mud. It was panting and wheezing, looking at its legs in confusion as it pondered why it was up to its knees in stone-tinged mud.

Kane picked himself up. "You see this?" he said to the beast, pointing to his own head while it regarded him quizzically. "Best weapon in the galaxy. Bet you know nothing about weight ratios, eh chum?" He turned to the rock-and-mud-face and started climbing.

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Location: USS DISCOVERY, high above
Scene: Personnel transporters, Deck 21


Kassandra watched as the engineers all took their places on the transporter pads. Cindy and Maynell had started up the control panel without incident. They had tied the transporter into the ship's exterior sensor grid - nobody noticed. They inputted the co-ordinates of the Century's main engineering deck, confirmed the lock, and there was no reaction. Now, Doctor Reardon, Ensign Maynell, and thirty-seven engineers were standing by to beam out.

Cindy was inputting data into the computer when Kass approached her. "Almost ready," she said.

Kass exchanged grim nods with her. "Have you set up the life support system failures?"

Cindy nodded. "Yes. I'll get started on them immediately after we beam them over."

"No you won't," said Kass. "I'll do it. You're going to the Century, Lieutenant."

"What?" Cindy looked up. "No. No, I'm not. I need to monitor the computer."

Kass hefted her rifle purposefully. "You're going onto the Century. It's up to you to cold start her engines. We'll get as many people to transporters as we can and try to join you. If it doesn't work out, get Captain Kane up from the moon's surface and activate the Century's defensive systems. Clear?"

"I told you no -"

"Give me strength!" hissed Kassandra. "Why the fuck don't you just do as you're told?"

Cindy was flabbergasted. Ashamed, she nodded. "Understood, sir."

Kass watched her take her place on the transporter deck. No speeches, no calls-to-arms. She hit the touch-screen, shielding her eyes as forty transporters activated simultaneously in a blinding haze of cobalt light. When the shimmering blaze faded, they were all gone.

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Location: K-60-Alpha-Twelve
Scene: Edge of the gorge


Kane had reunited with Russ and now they were following the tricorder as it led them back to Jake. They found him not long away, insensate and bloodied and lying in a crumpled heap amongst several flower-trees.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Kane.

"His rebreather's malfunctioned," said Russ. He pulled the useless mask away from Jake's face. "He must have passed out some minutes ago. Captain, there are elevated levels of oxygen in his blood. He is suffering from moderate hyperoxia."

Kane pulled off his own rebreather and applied it to Jake's face. "How long before I start to be affected?"

Russ shook his head. "Minutes, sir."

"You and I will trade rebreathers for as long as we can. We'll carry Commander Crichton back to the Nile. When we're close enough we'll try to attract Lieutenant Byte's attention."

"Understood." Russ hefted Jake up by his shoulders as Kane hauled him up by the legs. "He weighs a ton."

"Heavier gravity," Kane grated. "Let's get moving."

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Location: USS DISCOVERY, high above
Scene: Deck 21 again



"Major!" called Kuenzi from the access tunnel. "There's something coming!"

Kass tensed. She had expected something, and now it was happening. "What is it?"

Kuenzi peered into the gloom of the access tunnel. "It's that damn Exocomp!" she called, ducking her head back, and an instant later, it was there in the room, hovering on its thrusters, trilling in those strange electronic tones.

The Exocomp floated to the centre of the room while everyone stood there watching it. Kass wasn't sure what to do. The thing wasn't taking any hostile action, and she was pretty sure it wasn't one of Stonn's tools, but -

[[Stonn to Major Thytos.]]

Speak of the devil, thought Kass. Her stomach twisted. So, they've found us already. "Thytos here. Go ahead."

[[Major, we are showing life support failures near Engineering and no-one there is responding to us. Where are you?]]

"Uh - I'm on deck twenty-one. We're beaming the corpses back to the Century."

[[Indeed? How goes it?]]

Kass swallowed hard while motioning for the scientists and medical personnel to step on to the transported pads. As if sensing what was going on, the Exocomp floated onto a pad beside Polly Hoyle. "Going well, Commander, going well." She glanced down and activated the transporter cycle. In a blaze of light, another forty disappeared. "Not much more to do now."

[[Is that so? On the bridge, we are trying to clarify exactly what your cargo is, but it appears that the transporter logs are being blocked. A scan of Engineering also reveals several dead or unconscious life-forms, which I can only assume are some of our crew. Can you explain any of this, Major Thytos?]]

Kass's heart sank. "Sir, I-"

[[Remain where you are, Major. I am coming down. And I am not alone.]] Stonn's voice was full of deadly promise.

Kass looked around at the almost deserted transporter room, wondering what to do, and how long she had to do it.

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NRPG: Straightening things out a bit. We're coming to the end of the story now gang, so don't let up now!


ALIX: Your next post should be Kass's last with the Discovery! Thank you for everything! ;) Now you must decide how to move into your endgame - Stonn's on his way down with armed support. Kass's hour of glory has come!

CHRIS: Russ and Kane are carrying Jake back to the Nile, a physical endeavour fraught with potential problems. Let's move toward the end of this subplot in your next post. In the meantime, Cindy is on the Century, trying to cold start the ship's engines, dead for the past nine years, so we can beam up the Nile's crew. Don't move beyond beaming up the Nile's crew (if you choose to go that far) without checking with me!

SHAWN: As night falls on the alien moon, Jake is down, but not out. He was nearly dinner for Gorilliasaurus Rex, and who's to say how long it will take that beast to get itself out of the gorge? Let's move toward the end of this subplot in your next post. In the meantime, the Exocomp has been beamed to the Century - what help can it be in cold starting the engines, activating the shields, or beaming up the Nile's crew?


Jerome McKee
the Soul of Captain Michael Turlogh Kane
Commanding Officer
USS DISCOVERY


"He speaks an infinite deal of nothing!"
- Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice", Act 1, Scene 1.117

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